The Harper of Ellin
by Quietly Making Noise
Summary: 9th Doctor. ‘Nothing hit us; the entire universe vibrated.’ An immense quantum vibration makes the entire universe, including the TARDIS, go 'Twang'. Not good. The Harper of Ellin is attempting to play the cosmos, and must be stopped, whatever the cost.
1. 1

**Title**: The Harper of Ellin  
**Author**: Quietly Making Noise  
**Disclaimer**: 9th Doctor, Rose, the TARDIS, et al canon characters/things are trademarks of the BBC and will be put back when I've finished playing with them. The Ellion and their planet are mine, mine I tell you!

**AN**: Any accessible articles on string theory, black holes, and the like welcomed with open arms.

∞ ∞ ∞

**Chapter 1**

**'Nothing hit us; the entire universe vibrated.'**

∞ ∞ ∞

The Harper's long blue coat touched either side of the passage as he ran along its length. A junior leapt aside out of his path, squeaking indignantly. The runner carried on, all the while ascending higher and higher, to the Lords and Ladies on the uppermost level of the temple. He heard not the sweet beguiling music that filled the air.

He broke the first code by neglecting to knock, the second by neglecting to bow and the third by bursting out 'You cannot do this!'

The assembled Lords and Ladies had flicked their heads up the second before he entered, having heard his thundering footsteps on the stairs. Identical frowns of disapproval glared at him; he noticed the space where he should have been sat conspicuously empty.

'I beg your pardon?' asked the highest Lady.

The Harper continued passionately, 'What you are planning will upset the entire balance of the universe!'

The Lady stood up elegantly, snapping her fingers. Two guards materialised from the drapes that covered the open window arches. Wind ran through the space like water, dragging her yellow robe sideways. The Harper tossed his head, clearing his vision of wild golden hair.

'What Canola is planning is the greatest thing the Ellion have ever achieved, and you want to stop her? We cannot allow that to happen.'

'But you'll destroy everything!' The Harper's eyes were wild with fear. 'I'll stop her myself if I have to!'

'Harper - Arolan, isn't it? You know the punishment for treason.'

'I do.' Arolan's voice dropped to a hiss as the guards circled the room and appeared by his sides. 'And I know what is right.'

He lunged forwards, throwing off the first guard's grip and darting past the Lady. She cried out, a command in Ancient, and the vines curling up the pillars sprang to life. They coiled snakelike around Arolan's heels as he reached the door to the antechamber, bringing him crashing onto the flags.

The Lady strode delicately to his side. 'I will not have you disturbing my daughter.'

Arolan struggled, but it was no use. The vines, at another command, wrapped him securely whilst the guards removed his harp from his back. His animal scream of fury was cut off as more plants filled his open mouth, making him gag. He snorted through his nose and glared at the Lady.

'Your harp will be held. Your life is your own.' His heart sank in disbelief as she quoted the lines. 'You are banished from here. Go forth - alone.'

The vines whipped away, scratching him cruelly, and he was heaved upright by the guards. Before he could curse her, he was thrown from the circular roof space into the forest canopy, his cry of betrayal following him down.

∞ ∞ ∞

The TARDIS _lurched_.

The Doctor erupted out from under the central controls, cracking his head but seeming not to notice. 'That's not right…'

Rose Tyler picked herself up from where she had been flung against the wall. 'State the obvious,' she grumbled, rubbing her elbow.

The human girl crossed to where the Time Lord was flicking switches like his life depended on it. 'Something of that force… Can't be a projectile… Something intangible…' His Mancunian accent was enough to remind her that he was alien.

'So what was it? Laser beam, phaser, what?'

'Didn't you feel it?' He turned to her, the alarm in his eyes making her forget all future jokes. 'Nothing hit us; the entire universe vibrated.'

'What, like an elastic band?'

'Yes, I s'pose, like…' His face changed as an idea revealed itself to him. 'Exactly like an elastic band. Like a String.'

Rose heard the capital letter. 'A… string?'

'How's your physics?'

'I scraped a C in science GCSE…'

'Any quantum mechanics? No? Never mind.' He flicked more dials and switches, making something spark. Rose recoiled instinctively. 'Whoops,' he grinned.

'Basically,' he lectured as he worked, circling the console, 'There are great big long Strings of energy running through the galaxy. They hold everything together. That vibration was caused by someone plucking one of them Strings.'

'And that's bad?' ventured Rose.

'I don't know. But I don't want to know either.'

'Neither do I then.'

'If someone's going to try and mess around with the Strings, we should at least let them know what they're up to. Ah! Got it.'

Rose peered at the screen; it displayed a very complicated chart: a complex arrangement of small dots and long elongated ovals with some strange text in the corner. The Doctor pointed. 'This is the galactic section 56.01.72.07, and this is where the vibration came from. Ellin.'

He indicated a small dot very close to a larger red one. 'So that's where we're going?' asked Rose, regarding him.

He looked at her. 'It'll be dangerous.'

She smiled, almost shyly, 'Yeah, I know.' The Doctor was struck by the possibility that he would never understand his young friend, not matter how many adventures they went on. 'Come on,' she said, still smiling. 'You take that side, I'll man this.'

'Right then.' He grinned back. 'Hope you're feeling stretchy. This is a space job.'

∞ ∞ ∞

Rose slid off the control panel as the TARDIS shuddered to a halt - touchdown, landing, whatever it did - and nursed her hands. Her fingers ached - the Doctor had made her hold down _six _switches with one hand!

Said Doctor strode around, a smile hovering on his face. 'Come on. Let's see if the old girl got it right for once.'

She took his extended hand and they cracked the door open together. 'Yes! She managed it!' The Doctor thumped the side of his beloved TARDIS fondly, and stepped out.

The first thing that struck Rose was the heat - as hot as an English heatwave, which if you're English is quite hot enough, thank you very much. Moisture seeped out of the air, soaking her skin and hair. Looking up, a huge red sun hung bloated in the sky, kept aloft seemingly by force of will.

Rose rolled up her sleeves and joined the Doctor. The police box was sitting in a small clearing in thick forest: trees that appeared very similar to Earth's towered up into the sky.

'It doesn't look much different to Earth, if you get past the sun- YAH!'

She was cut off as an enormous butterfly the size of her torso floated crazily across her path. The insect continued its trajectory and landed on the TARDIS' roof, its antennae twitching. It was dully coloured and seemed a little worse for wear.

Rose backed away to the stifled chuckles of the Doctor. 'You were saying?'

'Shut up.'

He put a hand on her shoulder and pointed at the insect. 'Insects of that size would be crushed by gravity, especially with a dying sun. Therefore that's not an insect.'

Rose twisted her face. 'It's not?'

He shook his head, smiling conspiratorially. 'Strings aren't just cosmic: there's one inside every atom. The frequency they vibrate at determines the shape of the being. You follow?'

Rose nodded slowly.

'That butterfly, Rose Tyler, is an Ellion. A Harper, to give it its title, and they aren't half fussy about titles.'

As he spoke, the butterfly lifted off and drifted to the floor. With a quantum _twang_, it shimmered and flickered, changing shape into the form of a tall humanoid.

The Doctor gently closed Rose's open mouth.

∞ ∞ ∞


	2. 2

**AN**: Chapter 1 has changed slightly – chapter 2 won't make sense unless one re-reads most of it. Thanks for your time, and thanks for the reviews, you lovely people! A programme of hints re the Harpers' names is in progress.

∞ ∞ ∞

**Chapter 2**

**'Truck meet watermelon?'**

∞ ∞ ∞

The Harper focused on them briefly with his strange green eyes. Then his head lolled backwards and he fainted. Rose swallowed awkwardly at the impossible angle of one of his long legs as he fell. The Doctor strode to the Ellion's side and turned him over gently. 'He's still alive.'

Rose followed. 'That leg…'

The Doctor followed her gaze. '…is broken, in two no, three places by the looks of it. He must have fallen from a heck of a height to do that; the shinbone has-'

'Don't!'

The Doctor shot her a look. 'Come on, Squeamish. Help me get him inside.' He lifted the prone alien as though he were a toy, motioning with his head for Rose to open the TARDIS door.

He laid the Harper on the pallet in the medical lab and carefully examined the damaged leg. 'I should be able to fix this.'

'Is there anything you can't fix?'

'Broken hearts.'

'What would you know of broken hearts?' scoffed Rose.

She looked at him when he failed to respond. He was frozen beside a tray of hypodermic needles, his startling blue eyes focused on something inner. 'You'd be surprised,' he said softly. He came to suddenly and crossed the room. 'Get a towel or something and mop him down.'

Rose complied, searching the assorted cabinets until she came across a bundle of white ones. She went to the Ellion and cleared his lank hair from his face.

He was finely featured: his face had a kind of perfect symmetry that made it beautiful to look at. A sheen of sweat covered his high forehead, and his lips were skewed in a grimace of pain. Rose noted without alarm that he had six fingers on both hands, all the same length but for the thumb.

The Doctor had, with medical efficiency, gathered bandages and swabs, and was carefully rolling back the Harper's trouser leg. Rose twisted her head, feeling nausea ball in her stomach. The Doctor manipulated one end of the protruding shinbone back into place, wrapping the break securely in a splint.

Abruptly, the Harper jerked awake, a stream of fluid syllables flying from his mouth. It must be a dead language, thought Rose; else the TARDIS would have translated. She pressed her hands to his temples. 'Woah, lie down.'

His eyes rolled up to stare at her. 'Who are you?' The closet accent match the TARDIS could find was Irish.

'My name's Rose. Keep still; it's all right, you've just… broken your leg.'

'That's not the only thing that broke.' He wriggled weakly, his eyes falling half closed, speaking in bursts. 'The harps broke… They all broke… I felt them!'

'Rose is right,' said the Doctor irritably, looking over the second break. 'Keep still or this'll never heal properly. Tell us about it afterwards.'

The Harper opened his mouth to say more, but the breath came out as a gasp of agony. 'You're hurting him!' protested Rose.

The Doctor found a syringe after a moment's search. 'Harper, do you react adversely to sodium thiopental? A local anaesthetic,' he translated, seeing Rose's puzzled look. The Harper shook his head, his chest heaving. The Doctor gave him the injection, and almost immediately, his features relaxed. The Doctor began setting the second break.

Rose continued bathing his head. 'What's your name?' she asked.

'Arolan.'

She almost commented that it was a pretty name, but stopped herself. She had no idea of whether it would be a complement or not, and decided to withhold her judgement. Images from hospital dramas appeared in her head, and she decided it would be a good idea to keep talking to him. 'What do you mean, the harps broke?'

He looked up lucidly, staring into her eyes. 'The strings snapped. They were lucky; much more should have gone.'

'You mean, like the harps themselves?'

'The entire planet.'

A now-familiar shiver flew up Rose's spine and curdled in her stomach. At one point, when she had first started Travelling, she would have recognised it as fear. As it was, she turned her attention away from it. Arolan twitched as the Doctor tightened the second splint. 'One more.'

'Who's "they"?' Rose folded her towel and placed it on the cabinet top.

Arolan closed his eyes wearily. 'The Lords and Ladies.'

'And they're what, harpers like you?'

'Yes.' Arolan touched the finger and thumb of one hand to his eyelids tiredly, then propped himself up on an elbow. He glanced at the sleeves of his pale blue coat. 'I'm at the second highest level. I should have been with them. When they find I'm still alive, I will be killed.'

'Then we'll make sure they won't find you, right Doctor?'

'Hmm…' With another tug, the binding was finished. The Doctor cleared the surplus bandages and came to the head of the pallet. 'When the anaesthetic wears off, that will hurt,' he warned.

'If I wasn't so tired I could heal myself properly,' said Arolan, sitting up fully and running his long fingers over the splints. 'But thank you anyway. This will do'

Rose shot the Doctor a glance, hearing the note of petulant arrogance in the Harper's tone. Arolan swung his legs over the side of the pallet. He kicked his good leg absently in the short silence that followed. 'They must be stopped.'

'What exactly do they want to do?' asked the Doctor.

'The highest Lady's daughter wants to play the universe, just to find out if she can. The others agree to support her, for if she succeeds, we can raise our prices.'

'Prices?' echoed Rose uncertainly.

'The Harpers manipulate the Strings,' began the Doctor, but he was rudely interrupted.

'We can do anything. If the rich need something doing, they get a Harper. We tame horses, create forests and jungles, bring down the rain, even charm armies with our music.' The Doctor folded his arms, and Rose dared to think he might be sulking. 'If they succeed in playing the universal string, we can expand our influence. But it's not as simple as they think it is.'

'Didn't think it could be,' murmured Rose.

The Doctor leapt in. 'Superstrings distort the space around them. Messing with that distortion, changing the vibration, could be fatal.'

Rose raised her hands. 'Hang on… Put that in normal language.'

'Truck meet watermelon?' tried the Doctor.

Rose blinked. 'Not good.'

The Doctor shook his head, smiling ironically. 'No. Not good at all.' He turned to the Harper. 'Where are the Lords and Ladies?'

'What's your interest in this?' Arolan shot back accusingly. 'Who are you?'

Rose noticed the Doctor's shoulders tense as he filtered the less painful memories through. 'Just a traveller,' he said after a pause. 'Call me Doctor.'

'What's your interest in the Strings?'

The Doctor's eyes flared angrily. 'I deal with Time, Harper. If your lot start messing with the dimensions, if warping or vibrating occurs in the timelines, the consequences will be dire. It's perfectly possible that the universe could come apart at the seams, do you understand?'

Resentment flicked between them: two experts in conflict. Rose suspected the Doctor had the upper hand intelligence-wise, but Arolan's haughtiness made him testy, clouding his knowledge.

Arolan looked away first and stood carefully on his good leg. 'All right. If you want me to help you, I'll need my harp back.'

'Where is it?'

Arolan's eyes fluttered closed as he concentrated. The Doctor shifted impatiently, and Rose thought he was being a little unfair. The Harper had tried to stop all this happening, after all. 'Underneath the temple. The cellar, where the coats are kept.' He opened his eyes. 'How're you going to get in?' he asked, eying their clothes sardonically.

'We'll be okay, thank you.' The Doctor patted his pocket. Of course, realised Rose. Psychic paper.

They came out again into the dull light. 'Is it okay to leave him in there?' asked Rose worriedly.

'The TARDIS controls are isomorphic – without me in there, she's not going anywhere.'

'So what are we going to be, invited guests?' Rose plunged into the ferns, struggling to match the Doctor's pace.

'Something like that.' They fought their way onward. Rose had the impression he was walking off his anger. 'They should know better,' he muttered after a time. 'Playing the universe… how infantile can you get?'

'Don't say that in front of them. If they're all as proud as Arolan, we'll get fried.'

'Or transformed.' The Doctor's mood lifted a little, and he began to hum quietly. 'If you go down to the woods today, you'd better not go alone…'

Rose gripped his jacket sleeve.

∞ ∞ ∞

**Hint 1**: Ireland.


	3. 3

∞ ∞ ∞

**Chapter 3**

**'What is it with you humans and stating the obvious?'**

∞ ∞ ∞

The planet revolved as they trekked, and as the temple came into view at the end of an avenue of trees, the dying sun seeped crimson into the clouds. Rose disentangled herself from a particularly grasping set of vines and hurried to catch up with the Doctor as he emerged onto the path.

Her feet were soaked through her trainers from an encounter with a concealed marsh, and her legs ached from navigating through the tree branches that snaked across the path. Twice she had startled some kind of ground bird, which squawked at her and took off into the ferns, its red tail wobbling comically.

The Doctor was examining his watch as she finally left the forest behind and stumbled into him. 'I told you I'd find it.'

'How long did that take us?'

'An hour, an hour and a half.'

'Great. And how are we going to get back in the dark?'

His face fell. 'Dunno. I hadn't thought of that.'

Rose sighed, hands on hips. She stepped a little way down the path and squinted. 'Well, there's the temple. Any ideas on how to get inside yet?'

The Doctor patted himself down until he located the psychic paper. He pulled it from his pocket and brandished it at her. 'PPC - Planet Planning Committee. Works every time.'

'You do this a lot then? Sneak into places you shouldn't be?'

He looked affronted. 'Not a lot. More like, when I have to.' Rose's slow grin spread onto her face, and he returned it. 'Come on.'

Hand in hand, they ran down the avenue of trees to the temple entrance. The packed earth changed to strange, blue gravel underfoot, and the circular bulk of the temple grew steadily larger.

It reminded Rose of photos she'd seen of the Coliseum in Rome – all arches and white stone. It tapered to a flattened-off spire at the top, and from the topmost arches, very long flags in blue and yellow hung like curtains down the length of the building. Some kind of motif was painted on them in silver; Rose could have sworn the thin lines writhed as she looked at them.

The Doctor slowed to a walk as they neared a large imposing archway of the same white stone; other than this, there was no visible barrier to the surrounding courtyard, also circular. There was just the wall of trees. Rose could make out figures in varying coloured coats milling about, and the faint sound of harp music floated through the still air.

Two tall Ellion in spotless white coats materialised from either side of the archway and stopped them with outstretched arms. Rose stepped closer to the Doctor as he introduced them, holding up the paper. She noticed the focus of their eyes glaze over slightly, and then they were in.

She shivered involuntarily as they crossed the threshold, and beside her, the Doctor closed his eyes briefly. 'Force field,' he murmured, 'and not a particularly strong one at that.'

'That's good?'

'It means I should be able to get at it if we have to leave by... other means.' He stopped and surveyed the courtyard. 'Right. Where's that cellar?'

'Excuse me?' Rose wheeled. The girl bowed quickly. 'I'm sorry.' She appeared about twelve; her red coat hung loosely off her slight frame and the small harp strapped to her back looked heavier than she was.

'That's okay...' replied Rose, a little puzzled. After a second she remembered herself and bowed awkwardly.

The girl continued, the slight wind playing with the tips of her hair. 'I couldn't help overhearing. I can show you the cellars if you like.'

The Doctor nodded. 'If you don't mind, that would save my assistant and me a lot of trouble.'

'Please, follow me.'

The girl led them around to one of the side entrances, ducking under the cloth that served as a door and through the archway. They came into a long corridor, lit by a type of glowing crystal set at intervals in the stone. The rocks shed an eerie bluish light which caught oddly on the Doctor's leather jacket and fractured off.

Two young boys in green coats passed them going the other way, chattering animatedly. Both were clutching harps to their chests. Rose supposed this must be a kind of school for harpers, since they were the only people she'd seen.

Their guide led them down a short flight of stone steps and turned left at an intersection. Then more steps, at least fifty, then a thick cloth "door" concealing the entrance.

'Here. But, if I may ask, what is it you intend to do?'

'Just survey the contents,' assured the Doctor.

Alarm flickered across the girl's features. 'Cellar six is off bounds, even for the PPC. The Lords and Ladies say no one is to enter it, not even for maintenance.'

The Doctor's brows flicked. 'Thank you.'

The girl smiled, bowed, and then scampered back the way she'd led them, taking the stairs two at a time.

The Doctor heaved the cloth aside and ducked through, and Rose followed through the cloud of dust. Coughing, she was forced to blink repeatedly until her eyesight adjusted to the gloom inside. She smelt stones and stale air, and could hear the Doctor's footsteps descending rapidly. 'Keep up!'

'I can't see a thing!'

'Hold that flap open and find a torch or something.'

Irked by his blasé nature, she yanked the curtain back and used the faint blue light to locate what appeared to be a normal electric torch attached to a fixture in the wall. Pressing the panel where the on-switch should be caused a beam of the same blue light to leap into the darkness, hitting the Doctor full in the face.

Rose jerked backwards as she saw his eyes – the pupils had changed shape, narrowing and elongating like a snake's. In the glare, they reformed, startling her into speech. 'What was that?'

'What?'

'Your _eyes_!'

'Oh. That.' He came back up the steps as the torch beam wandered erratically over the walls. 'I just shifted my sight into infrared.'

'You can do that?'

He sighed exasperatedly. 'What is it with you humans and stating the obvious?'

She pushed past him and strode down the steps, sweeping the torch over the cellar. The blue light revealed a good number of silvery boxes piled neatly, though in no particular order. The Doctor swiped the keypad of one with the sonic screwdriver. 'Food supplies. Which cellar is this anyway?'

Rose aimed the torch at the opposite wall, where a similar curtain hung. There was a figure cared into the stone, but in a spiky script quite alien to her. 'I can't read it.'

The Doctor deciphered it quickly enough. 'Nine, through that arch. Making this one eight, and,' he swung to face the opposite wall, 'that way seven and six, and the harp.'

∞ ∞ ∞

Cellar seven contained shelf upon shelf of neatly folded coats, and the arch to cellar six was blocked, not by the usual thick curtain, but by a sophisticated-looking metal door that made Rose think of something from _Star Wars_. Undeterred, the Doctor strode across to it and produced his trusty screwdriver.

There was a white flash and the crackle of discharged electricity, and the Doctor was thrown backwards; small blue strings of lightening leapt across his jacket. Rose dropped the torch with a cry and leapt across as he landed in a heap with a groan.

'That,' he gasped, propping himself up on an elbow, 'is a good example of a _strong_ force field.' Charges of electricity earthed down his arms, causing him to twitch. Rose heaved him up, but he shook her off gently. 'I'm fine, I'm fine.' He surveyed the door again, more guardedly. 'There has to be a keypad somewhere.'

Rose retrieved the torch. 'But if it's blocked off, maybe only the "Lords and Ladies" can get in.'

He frowned. 'Good point.' He walked the length of the cellar wall, examining the stone bricks and murmuring to himself. 'Palm print? Retina pattern? Voice key, even?'

Something caught Rose's eye, and she aimed the torch. A section of the stone didn't look quite right... She went to it and knelt, running her free hand over it. It felt warmer. She pressed her ear to it and heard a faint electronic throbbing.

She knocked on it, and it went _clang_.

The Doctor's head snapped around. 'Aha!'

∞ ∞ ∞

**Hint 2**: Famous harpist and bard in the 1700s.

**AN**: That should give you one. More next update!


	4. 4

∞ ∞ ∞

**Chapter 4**

**'I might need rescuing.'**

∞ ∞ ∞

Together, they lifted the panel out and peered inside at the neat bundles of wires. 'I will say this for the Ellion,' said the Doctor, inserting his head into the recess, his voice echoing oddly, 'they are brilliant at keeping things tidy.'

Rose squinted at the bundles, following one with the torchlight. 'That lot goes towards the door.'

The Doctor removed his head and dislocated the clump from its little wall bracket He produced the screwdriver again, paused, and put it back in his inside pocket. 'Better not,' he grinned. 'Now then.'

He pulled the wires, teasing out from inside the wall the circuit board they were attached to. He turned his gaze on Rose. 'Feeling brave?'

'What do you want me to do?'

'Hold onto me with one hand and the floor with the other, so we'll earth it between us if it sparks again.' Rose gripped his jacket, holding the torch in her teeth. The Doctor removed the wires from the little chip, causing minute tendrils of electricity to flare up. The background humming changed pitch slightly.

He worked quickly, systematically crossing the exposed ends. On the fifth go, the doors slid noiselessly open. Simultaneously, the torch in Rose's mouth flickered, and then died. Rose swore around the casing as thick darkness swamped her vision. The Doctor gripped her shoulder. 'Grab my arm, and don't let go.'

She spat the torch out and pocketed it out of habit. 'I hope you didn't set off any alarms or anything.'

'I can't hear anything, although we're so far underground it's hard to know.' She felt a flash of helplessness, clinging blind to his arm as he led her though the archway and into the sixth cellar. The air was different again: tangy, almost greasy. 'Ah,' exclaimed the Doctor gently. He jogged her across and picked something up from the floor.

Light burst into Rose's dilated pupils, making her squeeze her eyes in shock and pain. As it became more bearable, she heard, to her horror, the door they had entered by powering up. 'Doctor!'

He pushed the harp into her hands. 'Run for it – get back to the TARDIS and tell Arolan to heal himself quick. I might need rescuing.'

'Rescuing?' she cried, panicked by the responsibility.

Impossibly, he was grinning. 'I'm going to get myself captured. I need to talk to them.'

Rose stared at him. 'You're _insane_!'

'Possibly,' he acknowledged. The doors began to close, ridiculously slowly given the trapping mechanism. Rose shot him a final incredulous glance, hugged the harp to her, and darted out of the cellar. 'Oh, Rose!' She looked back, and he threw her a small cylinder. 'Glow stick; don't waste the batteries!'

She rolled her eyes and was gone into the darkness.

∞ ∞ ∞

The doors closed with a very final-sounding thump. The pneumatic systems hissed as the compressed air was released. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and stood in the centre of the room. He looked up at the top of the steps leading to the upper levels, but there was no one in sight. He waited.

Presently the faint alarms somewhere in the upper levels stopped, leaving a thick silence. The air around him shimmered, taking on a vague swirling pattern. He poked at it with his foot, and it rippled blue. He stretched up and was pleased to find no roof. So far so good. A non-destructive force prison meant they weren't keen on hurting him.

After another minute or so, someone did appear at the top of the steps, an elegant hand brushing aside the curtain. She descended the steps liquidly, her yellow robe trailing behind like sunrays. Her perfect features knitted in a frown. 'You?'

'Me,' replied the Doctor, smiling benignly.

She floated across to him. 'Considering the damage you caused last time we encountered you, you will understand when I order your elimination.'

'Perfectly. You may also recall however, that, were it not for me, this magnificent temple would have ceased to exist.'

'Of course,' she whispered, circling his prison like a curious cat. 'The Time War. It is remarkable how little our kind remember of that.'

Swap? thought the Doctor bitterly. Out loud he said, 'Why are you doing this? You, of all beings, understand the risks.'

'It is not my will,' she smiled. 'My daughter wishes it.'

'Surely all Harpers are not so blind.'

'She is but a child. Her innocence is beautiful as the stars.'

That threw him; he'd not anticipated that angle. 'Then teach her why it can't be done!'

'But it can be done,' she corrected gently, patronizing him through her tone. 'We have calculated the possible effects on the dimensions, and they are repairable.'

'Did you consider Time?' he shot back angrily. 'The continuum isn't just up-left-back, you know.'

'A ten-dimensional space can allow for some movement.'

'But not on this scale!' He pressed his palms to the field, feeling the crackle of static make his hair rise. 'And anyway, your harps broke, how're you going to play it now?'

He realised his mistake too late. Her features twisted curiously. 'How did you know that?'

'I picked up readings,' he invented, but she interrupted with a melodic laugh.

'Even your Ship, for all its hand-made sophistication, couldn't pick up something like that. Someone has told you. Who, I wonder? Perhaps the Blue Coat we banished for his disobedience?' The Doctor said nothing; fully aware he had put his foot in it. The Lady circled him again, examining him more closely. 'You've changed since we last met.'

'Things happened,' he said shortly. His memories of _that _were sketchy.

'At least you got rid of that ridiculous cravat. That jumper looks a little plain, though.' The Doctor rolled his eyes. Was it a new convention of the universe to mock his jumper? Apparently finished with his clothing, she came back around to the front and laced her fingers. 'There was another with you: where is she now?'

'Away.'

The Lady smiled, 'I will have her found. She has stolen the harp and must be punished.'

Not for the first time, the Doctor began to worry about the fate of his companion.

∞ ∞ ∞

Nobody paid the red coat much attention as she crossed the courtyard, even though she was unusually tall for a junior and her hair was much longer, and a strange colour. The harp as well was a little big for her, and looked as though it'd not been used for a while, the strings slack and the wood dull. She emanated a twitchy sense of nervousness.

The two of the six moons had risen before the sun had properly set, and the planet was shrouded in a rosy glow from the three light sources. The red coat passed through the archway to the forest, arousing a raised eyebrow from one of the guards. There was always a reason for such things, however: perhaps she was herb collecting.

He was not necessarily mistaken. There was a reason: just, not the one he had anticipated.

Rose shrugged her shoulders to shift the strap into a more comfortable position, clamping down on the urge to look behind her. She set off into the forest, along the blue gravel path, her trainers scrunching loudly. The throbbing of night insects thrummed into her head, and she wished she'd just stayed with the Doctor.

But what good would that have done? She chided herself as the path turned to packed earth and the volume of trees increased either side. She could find the TARDIS easily enough, and it looked as though she wouldn't even need the glow stick with the amount of light from the moons. Alarmed, she realised she hadn't actually switched it off, and proceeded to do so guiltily.

She found the trail of broken branches where she and the Doctor had emerged, and dived back into the forest. It occurred to her as she retraced her steps that this would be the roundabout way back, and there was sure to be a quicker one. How confident was she in finding her own way? Not very, she decided, coming to an intersection in the trail that she was sure hadn't been there before. A dozen or so small flies clung stubbornly to the sleeves of her coat, and she brushed at them.

After a moment's deliberation, she fished her TARDIS key out of her jeans pocket and weighed it in the palm of her hand. It was strangely comforting to hold, the chain draping silkily over her fingers. 'Right,' she said, holding up the chain so the key was at eye level. 'I know there's a quicker way back than this, and I think I'm lost now anyway, so it'd be good if you could help, okay?'

The key swung back and forth like a pendulum. Rose took this as a yes. 'So, any time now would be good,' she prompted.

The key swung horizontally for a few moments, then changed trajectory, rocking on forty-five degrees. It appeared to be indicating neither left nor right, but sort of off-centre. Rose gave it a hard look, and had the curious impression that it was blinking imploringly, like a dog that's found Something Interesting.

She sighed and plunged into the green.

∞ ∞ ∞

**Hint 3**: Ancient inventor

**AN**: "Can you tell what it is yet?"

I realise that, in an alarming break of tradition, no minor characters have died to prove the situation is serious.

Yet.

24/4 – updated due to typing errors.


	5. 5

∞ ∞ ∞

**Chapter 5**

**'Quantum… Is that, atoms and stuff?'**

∞ ∞ ∞

The Doctor stood down from the pallet and brushed off his hands with a wry smile. His examination of the ceiling panels confirmed his suspicions: the cell was as secure as anything. It was relatively well furnished, though: a bed of sorts, chair, desk, and sanitary facilities through an alcove hidden by a modest opaque curtain.

The Doctor sat on the sleeping pallet and considered his options. His sonic screwdriver had been removed, along with the assorted contents of his pockets, although they had let him keep the battered paper bag of Jellybabies. Come to think of it, he wasn't entirely sure how they'd got there in the first place. He'd had Rose down as a strawberry heart sort of girl…

He was getting distracted again. He stood up and paced, like a caged animal. The walls of his prison were solid rock, doubly protected by the same middling-level force field that had temporarily held him in the cellar. The ceiling panels were stuck in place: no escape that way. That left the window and the door.

He hopped up onto the pallet again and peered out. The arched window was open, but the force barrier shimmered against the night sky, at least as, if not more effective than bars. He was comforted to pick out the Summer Triangle nestled to the left of one of the moons. There were three in the sky, giving off a combined creamy light, and he hoped Rose had made it back to the clearing all right. He also hoped that the Harper wasn't giving her a hard time.

The Harpers may have emptied his coat, but the Doctor had other ways of concealing 'stuff'. He was amazed they hadn't bothered to sweep him with a metal detector. He stood down from the cot and pulled out the TARDIS key from around his neck. He tossed it up in the air and let it fall to the floor. He was unsurprised to see the key aim itself across the forest. At least those Harpers hadn't found it yet.

He wondered if he'd done the right thing. Leaving his companion with an arrogant, injured being was not a very intelligent thing to do, he reflected. But he'd done it now. No sense worrying about the past.

The past…

He closed down that section of his extensive brain automatically. That was one thing even he couldn't change: that war had come perilously close to tearing the continuum apart, although that seemed to have happened to him a lot in his life. This was different though; this was the arrogance of the Time Lords at its peak, and look where it had left them.

_Stop_.

He scooped the key off the floor and replaced it around his neck, tucking it into his jumper. He rolled his shoulders. Time to go. He remembered back to the cellar, to Rose's ingenuity with the panel, and began combing the walls.

∞ ∞ ∞

The Lady swept back up the flights of spiralling stairs, seemingly using no energy at all to climb to the highest levels of the temple. Her silks rippled behind her like the tail of an exotic fish. She reached the highest level again and breezed through the gauzy curtain. The assembled Harpers looked up expectantly, their harp strings in varying degrees of repair. Wind had increased as night fell, and their hair and robes tangled together, varying lengths of lightest brown with the blues and yellows of master Harpers.

And in the centre, her robes of palest yellow gleaming in a glow that seemed to emanate from her tiny form, Canola, her broken harp in two pieces before her crossed legs. Her fair hair streamed out behind her in loose waves, and her eyes were closed. The Lady saw her cheeks shine with tears, like crystal facets in the milky moons' light.

The Lady glided through the circle of Harpers to her daughter and knelt, gathering her into the folds of her embrace. Canola snuffled gently, her twelve fingers clutching at the Lady's sleeves. 'Can you fix it?' she asked, her young voice calm with self-control.

'No. But I know who can.'

Canola tilted her head back, staring up at the starlit sky. 'She who stole the last harp,' she whispered. 'The banished Harper - he is with her; they are together, but I don't know where. It feels funny. As if the Strings were bending back on themselves...'

The Lady held her close, allowing a flicker of wonderment at the degree of sensitivity her child had to the Strings. The summer night was warm but not stifling, and the wind was welcome and cool. A Yellow Coat finished retuning her harp and began manipulating the vines as an experiment, her playing audible as a series of quantum notes. Responding to the molecular changes, the leaves quivered as the branch snaked down from the pillar behind her and curled into a neat spiral pile.

Her arms entwined about her beloved, the Lady had a sudden flash of inspiration. She stared at it mentally until the glow subsided, and the perfect idea revolved slowly in her mind like an apple on a stalk. It was all clear, how to safely play the Superstring without harming the instruments again.

She smiled.

∞ ∞ ∞

Rose marched angrily through another of the TARDIS' extensive corridors. 'Arolan! You there?' She shrugged the coat so that the shoulders fell off, clutching the harp to her as the sleeves sagged, and shook out her hair. 'Arolan! I've got your harp!' Flashbacks of the day she'd first met the Doctor kept appearing in her head with alarming frequency, so often that she nearly called 'Wilson' once.

She rounded another corner and found herself back in the console room. Still no sign of the Harper. She plonked the harp down by the entrance and gratefully slid out from under the coat. How did that kid cope with something so heavy and hot in an atmosphere like this? She draped it over the back of a random chair and stared aimlessly at the switches.

Navigating TARDIS-key-style had led her back to the Ship in half the time it had taken the Doctor to find the temple, although she could still feel the twigs and leaves in her hair from some tangled patches. She rubbed at her head, dislodging some miscellaneous shrubbery, and clenched her fists over the tangles. She felt like screaming in frustration.

How could she lose a lame alien? Well, in the TARDIS it wasn't exactly hard, she reflected, wandering over to the harp.

She had to admit, it _was _very beautiful. In her limited experience of musical instruments, this one had a kind of shine to the polished wood that was somehow special. The carry strap was an intricately braided cord; the loose strings apparently made from the same kind of cord, but, and this was the impossible bit, _infinitely thin_.

She stared at it for a long while as her mind tried unsuccessfully to impose a horizon. Eventually the dull ache building at her temples began lapping at her forehead and eyes, and she turned away, wincing. Her brain obviously wasn't built to conceive of that kind of distance. It was like the Doctor had once told her: human minds filtered the larger concepts – time, infinity and such - like the eye filtering light.

Her attention went to him. He was, in all probability, locked up in some cell as usual, awaiting either a rescue or a freak event to throw the temple down. Strange how he attracted coincidences like that: in the time (God knew how long) she'd been with him, they'd escaped death so many times it was...

It was what? Impossible?

Not probably, certainly. But around him, the odds tended to get skewed.

_Speaking of skewed_. She went carefully back to the harp and idly twirled one of the pegs. The string in question tightened perceptibly. She reached out tentatively and plucked it.

∞ ∞ ∞

She awoke with the mother of headaches out in full force and her eyes full of gunk. Blinking sluggishly, she levered herself up onto an elbow and came face to face with a furious Arolan. 'What on Ellin were you _doing_?' he hissed.

She sat up, sideways, and scrubbed her eyes with her fingertips. 'Nothing...'

He gripped her shoulders, two fingers too many. 'You plucked it! An untrained _human_, not even a red coat yet!'

'What happened?'

'Thankfully not a lot.' He released her and stood up, his coat swirling. 'Just a little vibration, but the Lords and Ladies are sure to know where we are now.' He looked over from the console. 'Can you move this thing?'

'You leg's fixed,' she pointed out hazily.

He let out his breath, annoyed. 'Yes, when I felt the harp, I came back in and tuned it and fixed myself. And before you say it,' he continued as Rose opened her mouth, 'your "Doctor" said nothing about me staying put here. I went a-wandering.'

'What happened to me?' Rose stood up uncertainly, falling against the wall as her legs buckled. Arolan made no move to help her; rather his glare sharpened.

'You vibrated. On a quantum level.'

'Quantum… Is that, atoms and stuff?'

'Smaller than that. Because you're not used to it, you passed out. Your brain must be pretty primitive,' he added unnecessarily, smirking a little. 'You were completely gone for a while. Your mind just couldn't cope with the scale.'

'Now you've finished telling me how out of date I am,' snapped Rose, 'perhaps we could go and rescue the Doctor?'

'Why?'

Rose's jaw dropped. 'Why? _Why_! He rescued _you_, remember? You fainted right in front of us!'

'I was fine!' he countered. 'I was just tired.'

'Your leg was smashed!' she shouted.

He glowered at her, acknowledging the truth reluctantly. Then he wheeled and examined the console. 'You didn't answer me before.'

'What?' she asked sullenly.

'Can you move this?'

'Not without him on board. But I can work some of the scanners and stuff.' A part of Rose's mind balked at that. _Can you?_ Soon find out, she answered mentally.

'Let's do that,' said Arolan decisively.

_Damn._

∞ ∞ ∞


	6. 6

∞ ∞ ∞

**Chapter 6**

**'****Have you ever broken the rules before?****'**

∞ ∞ ∞

The moons' orbits were erratic at best, thought the Doctor, lying on his back and gazing out of the window. For one thing, two went left to the right while the other went the opposite way. And he was pretty sure the tip of another one had appeared, as though it was _circling _above the temple. Despite his best efforts, the cell was, as they boasted, secure. No panels, no lift-up ceiling squares, no bookcases.

His train of thought braked suddenly as the force field at the door rippled. He sat up instantly and succeeded in making the small red-coated girl from earlier jump like a rabbit. He treated her to a grin and swung his legs over the pallet. 'Sorry. Thought you were someone else.'

She pressed her six-fingered hands to the barrier, her hair rising as the static flowed up her body. 'Did you get to the cellar?' she whispered.

The Doctor slid off the pallet and crossed the cell to her. The nervousness so apparent in her tense little body made him inclined to think she had not been sent to cadge information from him. He knelt. 'Yep. We found the harp too; tell me, who does that belong to?'

'My friend Arolan. He was banished for trying to stop the Lords and Ladies-'

He stopped her with a raised hand. He knew as much, and there was no need to go over that already tedious ground again. If there was one thing that never failed to irritate him, it was single mindedness.

'Yes, I'd gathered that, what are they doing now?'

'Repairing the harps?' she guessed, twisting her mouth. 'I don't know; we're not allowed past the third level.'

'What's your name?'

Her hazel-green eyes locked onto his for a moment, assessing the level of trust she would disclose. 'Bridey.'

'Bridey, have you ever broken the rules before?'

She seemed to sense the pragmatics of his question, and grinned, her anxiety tensing her face. 'Not yet.'

The Doctor grinned back. 'Right. Here's what I want you to do.'

∞ ∞ ∞

Arolan sighed for the sixth time in as many minutes. 'Do you really know how to operate this thing?'

'Of course!' replied Rose hotly, tapping the keypad again. She was sweating under the Harper's intense gaze. 'I just don't cope well when people watch me do stuff.'

He snorted derisively. 'Some companion.'

'Well I don't see you offering to help!'

'You never asked!'

_Proud bastard_, she thought fiercely. _I bet no one ever snogged you at your Harper parties._

The tracking console lit up suddenly. 'Ah!' She tucked her hair behind her ears and, feeling a little stupid, bent to the receiver. 'Doctor,' she said clearly. She could feel Arolan's smirk boring into her skull, and joy of joys, she was rewarded with a happy bleeping and a flashing diagram. 'There!' She whipped one of the Doctor's yellow Post-It notes from where it had obscured the screen with a flourish, replacing it on the console.

He inserted his head into her line of vision and studied the schematic. 'Second floor, cell nine… Right. Stay here, I'll get him.'

'Oh no, I'm not leaving you to do all the glory work. I'm coming.'

'You are not.'

'Am too.' She strode back to the main control room and retrieved her red coat, slinging it on. 'Come on, and bring that harp with you. This may be your planet, but he's my friend we're rescuing.'

Arolan uttered the lowest of growls and picked up his instrument.

This time they reached the temple in just under fifteen minutes, following Arolan's route. Rose made an effort to pick out the landmarks, but in the fading light it was proving difficult. Out of the three moons that had lit her way back, only one was left, sinking down to the horizon on her right. The starlight was weak and barely lit the path. She flicked on the Doctor's glow stick, but this only attracted the biggest moth she'd ever seen, so it went off.

'Can you not just harp us some more light?' she hissed, as Arolan paused at an intersection.

'Do we have a spare half-hour?' he returned, giving her a look before striking out again. 'Harping is incredibly hard,' he lectured, picking his way through an adventurous mess of rhododendron-like bushes. 'It requires immense concentration. If I'm shape shifting something, and I get distracted… well. It's been done before, and the recipient now wears feathers permanently and eats nothing but seeds. Beautiful singing voice though.'

Rose exhaled angrily. 'Great. You're really not that good at all, are you?'

He rounded on her. 'Your primitive mind just can't imagine the possibilities.'

'Oh yeah? Prove it.'

'Now is not the time.'

'Chickening out?'

'What?'

'Never mind; it was a primitive Earth expression. Come on, we're nearly there.'

Side by side, they pushed through the ferns and emerged onto the path beside the arch. The two guards looked up and locked onto Arolan, raising their lances. 'You are banished from here,' intoned one.

Arolan raised his hands hurriedly. 'I know, I know.'

The second guard turned to Rose. 'You are not known to us: what is your name?'

Rose swallowed. 'Rose.'

'Where is your harp? Why are you not inside with the others, and what are you doing in the company of this banished one?'

'Um...'

They stepped together, blocking the arch. 'You are no Harper.' One of them noticed the strap across Arolan's chest. 'Your harp...' He turned his dark eyes onto Rose again. 'The thief from the cellars.' She took a step backwards. The Harpers levelled their lances again.

Rose turned and ran for it, sprinting as fast as she could back up the path. Behind her she heard scrunching as Arolan tackled one Harper and managed to trip the other up in the process. She carried on running, diving right and cutting through the ferns and spindly trees around the courtyard.

Why had she left him? She slowed to a jog, then a walk, and then stopped all together, listening. If he got himself captured again, she'd have made the Doctor's escapade a wasted effort: meaning she'd have to free them both. Cursing under her breath, she doubled back, and nearly ran into the Harper tearing at full speed through the trees.

He collapsed in a bluish heap at the foot of a wide trunk and panted, his hair wild and tangled. 'I think I lost them...'

'I hope so; you're in no state to run any further.' Rose cocked her head, but heard only the insects. 'They might come after us again, with more Harpers,' she mused aloud.

Arolan caught his breath and stood up, leaning against the tree. He looked very pale. 'They're not taking my harp off me again.' He seemed to register what he was leaning against and squinted up the trunk. 'Come on: up we go.'

'Up?'

'Yes – the last place anyone ever looks for anything. C'mere...'

With his boost, she clawed her way up into the lower branches, reaching down to carefully take the harp from him whilst he hauled himself after her. Together they climbed a little higher, where the tree branched out into two main sections. Rose perched in a comfortable fork and peered at the temple a short distance away. 'D'you think we could make it through the trees to the temple?'

'We might get close, but there's a force field and a courtyard in between us.'

'Let's do that. They won't expect us to go back, will they?'

Gingerly, they climbed from branch to branch and in this way from tree to tree. Luckily, the particular species was of the study type, and it was relatively easy to move in the thick branches. Rose found it a strangely familiar procedure. _Probably something to do with my primitive brain_, she thought wryly.

The last moon had totally sunk in the sky by the time they reached the edge of the forest. Leaning out in the blue light of the force field, Rose made out the shape of the arch, and the two white guards heading a larger group of green Harpers. 'There's the search party.'

Arolan moved so he could see. 'Drat,' he swore quietly. 'To reach the green level, Harpers have to be able to shift themselves into birds.'

'So it is a grading system...'

'Yes. Red, green, white, blue, yellow.'

Rose glanced at her dull sleeves and laughed. 'I picked the right one, for once.'

Arolan made a half-smile, which dropped from his face as he looked past her at the archway again. 'Oh no...'

Rose followed his gaze, and nearly fell off the branch.

∞ ∞ ∞


End file.
